The Sega Genesis was known for plenty of things: an edgy marketing campaign and having a strong enough library to compete with Nintendo, sure, but also for the bulky and expensive hardware add-ons that each had their own library of games. One such peripheral was the 32X – known in Japan as the Super 32X and in America as the Genesis 32X – which helped add to the processing power of the Genesis and aimed to bridge the gap between the 16-bit and 32-bit eras of gaming.

The 32X was unveiled at the 1994 Consumer Electronics Show and was presented as an affordable option to buying a whole new console as other companies beat Sega to market with their own 32-bit options. It released on November 21, 1994, at a price of $159.99.

The add-on was only in development for less than a year before making its way to market in order to be available for the 1994 holiday season. It was made with existing Genesis consumers in mind – that they would be able to spend less money than they would otherwise have to in order to buy a brand-new 32-bit console, but still be able to play new 32-bit games without having to get rid of their existing Genesis or their Genesis software.

The extremely fast development time for the hardware itself meant that software specifically for the 32X was suddenly on a tight deadline – and as a result, Sega had a hard time trying to convince third-party game developers to create titles for the 32X.

Because of this, the 32X only ever had 40 different titles developed for it in its short lifespan; these included various arcade ports such as After Burner and Space Harrier, though it also boasted some exclusives such as Knuckles’ Chaotix. Many of these games were reviewed quite well, such as Star Wars Arcade and Virtua Fighter both being called remarkable reproductions of the arcade titles, and Knuckles’ Chaotix acting as a breakout title for the popular Sonic the Hedgehog character. Many retrospective reviews of the 32X’s library praise the quality of many of its titles.

Despite initial reception to the 32X being positive, it was ultimately a complete commercial failure and many have since gone on to call it a poor idea by Sega – it has been referenced as a “band-aid approach” to Sega’s 32-bit problem at the time. Many have since cited the 32X’s failure, which was followed by another failure in the Sega Saturn console, as having contributed to the company’s downfall in the hardware market that led them to completely stopping the production of home consoles with the Dreamcast.